NEWPORT, R.I. - Twenty-nine senior officers and Department of Defense (DOD) civilians participated in a five-day executive-level operational level of war course (ELOC) attending U.S. Naval War College's (NWC) College of Operational and Strategic Leadership in Newport, R.I., June 3 to 7.

The ELOC course curriculum teaches senior officers to effectively lead command staffs, manage resources, make decisions at the operational level and translate the commander's vision into action.

"The course helps us translate the commander's vision into action by giving us the tools to frame problems, extract [information] from the commander’s vision and present it in a way that people can understand and execute it," said Capt. Bill Sherer, U.S. 6th Fleet comptroller and ELOC student.

ELOC consists of lectures, seminars and group discussions, and features active and retired flag officers as guest speakers.

"The course lays out the framework for how we analyze problems and organize staff, and how we develop, present, communicate and execute plans. It has taught me to be a lot more rigorous in planning orders, responding to contingencies and executing orders," said Sherer.

By developing leaders who are able to think and act critically, the course serves as an avenue to support NWC’s commitment to combat readiness through education.

"The students are going to be on fleet staffs, many of which are on the pointy end of the spear,” said Capt. John Schneider, co-director for ELOC. “They're going to be doing the command and control of forward-deployed naval forces as they operate across the spectrum of military operations."

The course is held three times a year and has successfully graduated 148 active-duty officers, 38 reserve officers and 18 senior DOD civilians since 2011. It was developed as a response from leaders to fill an educational gap between the maritime staff operator’s course, which trains junior staff officers, and the combined/joint forces maritime component commander course, which trains flag officers.

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